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If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Andrea Bargnani during his five seasons in Toronto, it might be this: The 25-year-old Raptor expresses himself in words, in both Italian and English, in the same way as he plays defence and rebounds. That is, reluctantly and sparingly.

So the beleaguered fan base of Canada’s 22-win NBA team should sympathize with the lot of Italy’s hoop supporters.

This past weekend, the colour commentary of the Italian feed of a Western Conference final game was provided by, yes, Bargnani.

The Raptor’s counterintuitive turn at the microphone, mind you, did produce at least a couple of notes of interest.

Asked in a feature interview where he’d like to play if he could rub a magic lamp and transport himself to another NBA city, Bargnani told Italy’s Sky Sports: “I want to stay in Toronto, at least this is the politically correct answer. If (I am) to go somewhere else, I’d like a warm climate city and a team where I can actually play in my role.”

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Bargnani spoke those sentiments in Italian; the translation was provided by a trusted source, fluent in both Italian and English, and confirmed as accurate by the journalist who conducted the interview, Alessandro Mamoli.

In the wake of a season in which the Raptors quietly opened the door to the possibility of trading Bargnani, perhaps Bargnani can be forgiven for musing about the idea of leaving town.

And exactly where the shot-happy Roman would find a more desirable role than he currently enjoys — the Raptors, don't forget, allowed him to jack up 17.8 field-goal attempts a game this past season, second-most among NBA players who haven't made an all-star team — is anyone's guess.

While Mamoli said he doesn’ believe Bargnani’s comments should be interpreted as a hint that he wants out of Toronto — and while NBA sources say no trade request has been made — those words weren’t Bargnani’s only eyebrow-raising utterance of the past week.

Asked on the Sky Sports broadcast about Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo’s post-season assessment of his work, Bargnani replied: “(Colangelo) had some unfortunate and not very courageous comments about me ... The facts are there for everybody to see and judge.”

There’ve been other recent reports in the Italian press in which Bargnani has called Colangelo’s words “uncourageous” — if the 25-year-old was any kind of broadcast analyst, he might have leaned toward “dead-on” or “about time.”

Indeed, while the GM labelled the Italian “the enigma of enigmas,” the essence of his April call-out of the Raptors’ leading scorer didn’t exactly qualify as inflammatory.

As critiques go, it was about as innocuous as a Bargnani box-out (although it was more barbed than anything the GM had ever previously said about the player he selected No. 1 overall in the 2006 draft).

“I don’t know if he’s ever going to be a better defensive player than he is. Can he be a better rebounder? Absolutely,” the GM said of Bargnani at his season-wrapping press conference.

“We know he can rebound, but he doesn’t focus on it ... That’s a desire thing. And that’s something he’s going to have to come to grips with.”

Bargnani, who is currently on vacation, was unavailable for comment. Colangelo, who said he has yet to discuss the matter with his 7-footer, said he blames the Italian media for turning his postseason comments “into a firestorm.”

“The way the Italian media portrayed my comments, I think, was completely out of context ... That’s what I call unfortunate,” Colangelo said Tuesday. “I didn’t say anything derogatory. I said in order for Andrea to get to the next level, he needs to focus on certain things and he needs to improve in certain areas.”

Indeed, there are signs that message appears to be getting through. Mamoli said Bargnani spent some of the Sky Sports interview offering a humble and honest examination of his game.

“(Bargnani) said, ‘I understand what Bryan Colangelo said.’ He said, ‘I need to improve. I know that I have to improve.’ He wasn’t happy about Colangelo’s comments, but he understands these comments, because he knows he’s a young player and he knows he has to improve in his game,” Mamoli said in a phone interview.

“I spent 25 minutes with him and he does not have any problem with Toronto or with Bryan’s comments. He didn’t seem angry. He understands and he accepts what his general manager had to say.”

As for the Roman’s accumen as a broadcaster, it was posed to an Italian TV journalist that Bargnani might be an unnatural choice for media row.

“He’s not known as a great talker in Italian, also,” Mamoli said. “But he has improved. He’s twice the talker he was when he was a rookie ... He actually has some intelligent insight into the game.”

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